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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27032731">Andromeda</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account'>orphan_account</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Stranger Things (TV 2016)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>?? - Freeform, Billy Hargrove Has a Crush on Steve Harrington, Billy Hargrove Needs Help, Billy Hargrove Needs a Hug, Billy Hargrove Redemption, Billy Hargrove Tries to Be a Better Person, Billy Hargrove-centric, Boys In Love, But also, First Dates, Fluff, Gen, Idiots in Love, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Introspection, Late Night Conversations, Light Angst, M/M, Maybe - Freeform, Neil Hargrove's A+ Parenting, POV Billy Hargrove, Plans For The Future, Song fic, Star Gazing, Steve Harrington Needs a Hug, Suicidal Thoughts, WHY IS IT ALL KINKY STUFF, and lots more - Freeform, hand holding, he’s just too wrapped up in trauma to realize, inspired by a song, steve is gonna give it to him, suicide ideation, talking about the stars, that’s more like it, they both need a hug is what i’m getting at, without realizing they’re falling in love simultaneously</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 17:46:11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,708</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27032731</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>“You know, I’ve never really seen Andromeda or the stars late at night like this.” </p>
<p>Billy turns to face Steve. </p>
<p>“Never?”</p>
<p>“Not like this.. not with you.”</p>
<p>-</p>
<p>Just toeing the line between friends and something more, gazing at the stars on a big empty hill.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Billy Hargrove &amp; Steve Harrington, Billy Hargrove/Steve Harrington</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>54</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Andromeda</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>“your hand<br/>touching mine.<br/>this is how<br/>galaxies<br/>collide.”<br/>-sanober khan</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>The hill is so much bigger than Billy thought it would be. Steve wasn’t lying when he said this would be the perfect spot for stargazing. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Steve! Hurry, we can’t wait much longer for your ass.” He calls back, groaning immediately after because his calves are on fire and there are only a few feet before they reach the top but the burn in his muscles is so bad he has to stop for a second. Steve catches up in those seconds, slaps Billy’s back hard, and laughs as he dodges the hand that reaches out to smack his shoulder. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>It’s weird how they can do those things now and not fear that their friendship is faltering. Billy would’ve taken the slap on the back as the inciting incident he needed to get into a fight before. Now, even if he tried to fight Steve, Steve would just roll his eyes at Billy because he knows that all the posturing is just a defense mechanism to make him seem stronger than he is. Steve has destroyed the walls Billy so carefully constructed years ago. It feels like he’s missing a part of himself now. Like he’s exposed and Steve has a full view of all the bullshit Billy has put up with. It’s frightening. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Steve runs up the hill with little difficulty and Billy honestly forgot how athletic Steve is. The wind makes Steve’s plain white tee ride up as he runs and he gets a full view of those back dimples he loves running his fingers over when he teases. He gets distracted until he hears Steve’s voice calling out his name. He runs up, his black converse getting stained with the dirt and the green of the grass. Indiana grass will never make sense to Billy. Indiana will never make sense to Billy. Not like the stars do. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>When he reaches the top, Steve is already lowering his body and laying down with his arms behind his head. Billy’s footsteps make him turn his head from the sky to Billy. Billy will never get sick of seeing those brown eyes looking at him. He wants to have Steve’s gaze on him for the rest of his life. He won’t say it out loud, but Steve gets him in a way that no one else does. They’re made from the same mold. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Are you gonna sit or just stand there?” </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Billy huffs, but he’s smiling too. Steve smiles back and turns his head back to look up at the black sky. When Billy lays down his head turns straight to the sky too. The white dots are mesmerizing, and Billy points them all out in his head. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Steve sends a jab into his side, “Hey, what the fuck was that for?” He hisses, watching as Steve rolls his eyes. Seriously, his eyes are gonna get stuck like that, “I can hear you thinking, it’s really distracting. What’s on your mind, Hargrove?” </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>You. The galaxy. California. Max. Dad. But you’re always on my mind.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Just the stars. Andromeda.” </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Steve hums like he knows everything about the stars. Billy knows that’s not true. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“What about the stars and Andromeda? Anything interesting?” </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Billy’s smile grows as he shakes his head, “Just... My mom used to talk to me about them,” Steve perks up at this, turns his head to face Billy and there are those stupid brown eyes again, “She used to read books about them. About constellations and zodiacs. She would take me out to the beach at night when my dad was mad to just lay down and listen to the waves and watch the stars.” His voice gets quieter with each sentence that stumbles out of his lips.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He doesn’t talk about his mom. Not a lot. He doesn’t think about her either. He stopped thinking about her when he realized she was never coming home. Not even when he called her, sobbing. He didn’t sway her. He had to stay home and suffer. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He knows it’s not fair to blame his mother because his mother had only ever tried to protect him. She threw a plate at his dad, for God’s sake.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Still, he wishes she would’ve come back in her yellow Beetle, a smile on her face as she told Billy that they were leaving forever. Just the two of them for the rest of their lives.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Dreams stayed dreams though, and now he’s in Hawkins, Indiana, watching the stars with Steve Harrington, former king of Hawkins High. Life sucks that way. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Steve moves to lie on his side, facing Billy, with his arm supporting his face. He looks real cute. “Would you tell me something about them?” He asks, so gentle and so soft that Billy can hardly remember a time when that voice of Steve’s spit harsh words at him. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Billy opens and closes his mouth for two seconds before he nods. He can do that. His memory might be kinda bad, but it’s not that bad. He can remember the things his mom told him the night before she left. He might never forget. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He lays his hands on his stomach, “Andromeda is the closest galaxy to us. Eventually, it’s gonna get so close to us we collide and we’ll spiral out of control. It’ll probably realign, like every other galaxy, but we can’t know for sure.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Steve lays back down, nodding once every couple of words. “Sounds dramatic. Like you.” He smiles. Billy can tell that Steve knows how to get a rise out of him. Again, he can’t believe that Steve Harrington, out of all the people in Hawkins, is the one who knows him best. He shoves Steve’s shoulder, “Fuck you. I just know how to look good, pretty boy.” Steve waves his hand in dismissal.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah, yeah, get on with your facts, Hargrove.” </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Billy laughs and nods, shuffling around because grass blades are digging into his lower back. “It’s got a supermassive black hole in it. By its core.” Steve hums and moves to lie on his back again, “Really?” Billy nods, “Really.” </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The silence following afterward is calming. There’s only the sound of the crickets in the grass, the sound of cicadas, and the wind blowing. Billy’s voice cuts through it all. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Sometimes, I wish I was in that black hole.” </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>It’s a thought whispered out loud. Something Billy doesn’t want anyone to know. How much he wants to disappear into a black void, just to not feel anymore. He would push himself in if he could, if science allowed it. For now, he smokes half a pack of cigarettes a day, goes out to parties and gets blackout drunk, and drives too fast down gravel roads. It’s not quite the same, but it’s enough. One of them will lead him down a path of self-destruction. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Only thing is, Steve Harrington is insisting that he stops in his path. Steve is insisting that Billy needs to take it slow, needs to cut all his bullshit out. Steve is telling him to grow. To not get wrapped up in his head, and to not wrap his car around a tree one of these days. It’s scary how much someone can care. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Steve whips his head around to look at Billy. He scrunches his brows up and his eyes are oozing of worry and concern. “Why?” Billy lifts his white tank top, stopping it just below his ribs to reveal the bruises that litter his abs and his sides. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“You know, just the usual shit.” Steve sucks in a breath and shakes his head. He’s not shaking his head at Billy, Billy knows that. “I hate your fucking dad.” He mumbles, rubbing a hand over his face and groaning. It makes Billy huff and nod, “You and me both. Fucking piece of crap beating his piece of crap son.” </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Steve groans again. “How many times do I have to tell you to quit that shit? You’re not a terrible person, Billy. Not that much.” Billy scoffs and looks the other way because he still doesn’t quite believe it when Steve tells him he has redeemable qualities. The only outstanding quality he has is his ability to talk his way out of anything, and his ability to win a fight, something that Steve is shit at. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Right, like I’m not the same guy that beat your head into Joyce Byers’ living room floor.” He argues, crossing his arms over his chest and here it comes, here comes the defense mechanism. The constant pushing away, the inability to take a good thing into his heart. His words are more directed towards him, and that’s yet another bad coping mechanism. He tells himself all the bad things he has done and tells himself that he deserves nothing good. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>I do bad things so I must deserve the abuse, right? There’s a reason dad hits me. I’m a shitty kid. I get into fights and break my knuckles on a pretty boy’s cheekbones. Plus, dad isn’t all that bad all the time. Maybe… maybe he can be nicer? One of these days? </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Billy is realistic, though. He’s sat in his AP Psychology class and read enough textbooks to know that an abuser never truly changes. There is always that wildfire that lives in them. All it takes for a forest to be engulfed in the flames is another spark. Billy always provides that spark.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The shitty thing is.. He can do everything right. He can make an excellent breakfast, can do the laundry, can pick up around the house, can call the electric company because his dad asked him to, can get good grades, and it still doesn’t matter. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He does one bad thing and suddenly, all hell breaks loose. There are fists raining down like bombs and there are words thrown around like gasoline and then his dad is lit like a forest fire. Slurs, too. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>It’s a shitty way to live. Always tiptoeing around his dad. Always tense because he doesn’t know what kind of mood his dad will wake up with, but Billy can only hope that it’s a decent one. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Steve’s voice breaks through, “Billy, I told you I forgave you for that. Like, you don’t have to feel bad about it or anything, I was kinda weird that night too.” A yawn breaks off the last few words that spill out of his mouth. Steve rubs his eyes, “Your dad is a dick. That made you a kind of dick. You don’t have to continue like that. You already apologized too, that’s more than your dad’s ever done, right?” He asks, looking at Billy with droopy eyes because he is so obviously falling asleep. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Steve does that a lot. He’s able to fall asleep so quickly that Billy almost envies it. He only goes to sleep once all the lights are off and he knows that his dad is asleep. Billy stays asleep though, relishes in the brief moments he has before he wakes up to another day where everything he does is a landmine. Steve doesn’t stay asleep. He wakes up every couple of hours, darts wide eyes around in search of something that Billy doesn’t know about yet. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>It’s concerning, honestly. Billy has woken up in Steve’s house to see him peering out the sliding glass door that leads to Steve’s backyard, that leads to the pool. Every time, Billy leads him back upstairs, back to his king sized bed, tells Steve to relax, </span>
  <em>
    <span>“I’m downstairs, Harrington. Nothing’s here, except for my ass.” </span>
  </em>
  <span>It gets a soft laugh out of Steve. A smile too. They say goodnight to each other and repeat the cycle every time Billy sleeps on Steve’s couch. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He wishes he was on that couch right about now. The dirt they’re resting on is annoying Billy, “Yeah, it’s way more than he’s ever done for me. Whatever..” Steve looks back to the stars. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“You don’t belong up there, anyway.” </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>It’s a strange thing to say. Billy knows what he means, anyway. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Who’s to say?” </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Me.” </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Billy breathes out through his nose sharply, licking his teeth with his tongue like he always does when he doesn’t know what to do anymore. It’s a habit he picked up a long time ago, and he’s not stopping, even if Steve practically </span>
  <em>
    <span>begs </span>
  </em>
  <span>him to stop. He whines that it’s, </span>
  <em>
    <span>“Honestly, super weird, Billy. Like, do girls even like that crap?” </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>It doesn’t matter if girls like it or not. They like him. They adore him. Billy likes the attention. He likes having someone notice him, even if it’s in a bad way. It feels </span>
  <em>
    <span>good </span>
  </em>
  <span>to have someone notice you. It feels like you’re a good person, like you’re someone worth noticing. Like you haven’t beaten down on others and on yourself. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Why do you even fucking think that? I’m not that nice or shit like that. I’m a bad person.” </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Steve turns his head around again to look Billy in the eyes and his brown eyes show that he’s not buying any of Billy’s crap and honestly, fuck all of that, fuck Steve and his ability to break Billy down into the child he once was. That version of him is weak. He doesn’t need that version of him; he needs the version that breaks bones and hearts and doesn’t think twice about any of it. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Eventually, Steve breaks the eye contact to look up, sighs and drums his fingers on the grass, “Billy, I used to be just like you and you’re telling me this? Come on.” Billy sits up, cleans his hands of the dirt that lingers on his skin on his blue jeans and winces when the dirt stains them. “Fine. I-.. I just wish this wasn’t so fucking hard, man. I.. I hate living like this.” Billy admits. It takes a lot to admit. To admit that he wants out of this stupid fucking life, he wants something bigger, something better than what he’s stuck with. He wants to go back home, most of all. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He wants Steve. He doesn’t know for what yet. All he knows is that he doesn’t really want to let Steve go, no matter how much he pushes. He wants to stay here, with Steve, underneath the stars and Andromeda forever.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I know. You can get out of here. You’re gonna. I know you will. And you can drag me along too.” The ending of Steve’s sentence is phrased like a question. Like he’s not sure whether Billy will take him along on whatever journey Billy takes. It’s stupid to assume that Billy would ever let Steve go. Still, Steve, and Billy knows this by now, needs reassurance. With no parents around to give him that reassurance, Steve seeks it out in others, in every relationship or friendship he has. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Steve looks over at Billy after a too long lapse of silence has passed. His brows are scrunched up in confusion. “Billy?” He’s startled back into reality when Steve calls his name, hums and pretends to think about what Steve said, “So, you think you can save me from all of this? Should I dare you so you can </span>
  <em>
    <span>really</span>
  </em>
  <span> try, King Steve?” It makes Steve crack, makes a smile form on his face. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Sure. I’ll try, and I’ll win.” </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“You never win.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“This time I will. Can’t have you floating into a fucking void, Billy.” </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Billy laughs, smiles, is so happy in this moment that he forgets everything except Steve Harrington and the way he cares so much and the way he fights for every one. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Steve laughs, smiles, is so happy in this moment that he forgets everything except Billy Hargrove and the way he deserves so much better and the way he makes jokes that shouldn’t make Steve laugh, but they do. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Billy lays back down, reaches his hand out to grasp Steve’s and closes his eyes when Steve laces their fingers together. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Maybe diving straight into a black hole to escape everything isn’t a good idea. Andromeda isn’t where he belongs. He belongs here, on this Earth, with Steve Harrington. It’s nice to look at, though, the universe. Just nice to look at from this big hill where they’ve planted their feet.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>SO, that was.. i dont know, please tell me if it fucking sucks or not, thanks &lt;3</p>
<p>also! playlist i made but no one will listen to: <a href="http://open.spotify.com/playlist/2hzWGf7abQDJXobhxYIgu2?si=frBg6P0-QqixU0SR3b08GQ">playlist</a></p></blockquote></div></div>
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